Specimen image via iDigBio · CC0
Haematococcus
Sign in to saveHaematococcus is a genus of algae in the family Haematococcaceae. It is a freshwater alga with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution, found from every continent except Antarctica.
Species
Genus
- PhylumCyanobacteria
- ClassCyanophyceae
- OrderChroococcales
- FamilyMicrocystaceae
via
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 63
- With media
- 54
- Family
- Haematococcaceae
- Collections
- US, NY, MICH, UPS, IPA/SP, UTEX
- Recorded in
- United States, Guatemala, Austria, Germany, Austria / Hungary, Sweden, Brasil, Svalbard And Jan Mayen
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Haematococcaceae
- Image
- Haematococcus pluvialis aggregate.jpg
Show 6 more facts
- taxon rank
- genus
- taxon name
- Haematococcus
- Commons category
- Haematococcus
- taxonomic type
- Haematococcus pluvialis
- taxon common name
- ヘマトコックス属
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Description
- Taxonomy
- References
- Further reading
Haematococcus is a genus of algae in the family Haematococcaceae. It is a freshwater alga with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution, found from every continent except Antarctica.
Members of this group are a common cause of the pink color found in birdbaths, which is caused by the carotenoid pigment astaxanthin. Because of their ability to produce astaxanthin, Haematococcus (and in particular H. lacustris) is widely used in the biotechnology industry.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Haematococcus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.